Actress and author (1812-90)
Johanne Luise Heiberg was the most highly acclaimed actress of her day, entrancing most people with her personality and charm. In the course of a lifelong career she played in about 270 roles, directed and wrote vaudevilles and wrote her memoirs.
Certain parallels can be drawn between her and Hans Christian Andersen. Like him, she was born in poor circumstances, and it was her talent that opened the way to a more affluent life. While she was a young actress, her achievements and personality enchanted the older author and critic Johan Ludvig Heiberg. They married and lived a life bathed in success – at least for a time.
In 1849, when Johan Ludvig Heiberg became Director of the Royal Theatre, there was great dissatisfaction with his style of management. The couple became the butt of a newspaper campaign aimed at foreign him to retire from the post. Heiberg finally gave up and died in 1860. Mrs Heiberg then began her career as a stage director and the author of Singspiels.
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Facts
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1820
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Child ballet dancer
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1826
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Debut as actress in Johan Ludvig Heiberg’s vaudeville Aprilsnarrene (The April Fools) at the Royal Theatre
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1864
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Mrs Heiberg ends her career as an actress
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1867-1874
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Stage director
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Selected Works
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1848
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En Søndag paa Amager (A Sunday on Amager), vaudeville
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1849
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Abekatten (The Fool), vaudeville
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1891-1892
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Et Liv gjenoplevet i Erindringen (A Life Re-lived in Memory), memoirs
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More About Johanne Luise Heiberg
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